HAMILTON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
“HAMARC”
Hamilton, Ohio

History

Amateur radio operators (“hams”) join clubs, are members of more than one club at the same time because different clubs have varied activities, interests, and their own personality, and they also leave clubs.

Although ham operators join clubs for different reasons, they also leave clubs for different reasons.  Between March 20-23, 2012, four amateur radio operators who had left a club e-mailed each other about getting together as a small group to continue their hobby together and have fun with their friends.

On March 24, 2012, the group met in the home of Bob KD8RLA simply to discuss getting together in the near future to operate as little group... perhaps conduct Field Day 2012 together... and have fun with our hobby and each other. 

At that March 24 meeting instead of four interested hams showing up, a group of eight showed up and some persons in the group had not seen each other for months and therefore it was also a reunion for some of us.

Bob KD8RLA foresaw that a small group might have the desire to get together and just in case he had several things standing by and ready-to-go.  He had an application for a club license with all the required organizational documents ready-to-go, a start-up website and registered domain name for the group ready-to-go, and a club name which reflected a one-hundred-year-old amateur radio club in the City of Hamilton, Ohio. 

He and the group jokingly adopted a “pirate” theme to the meeting and the start-up website because many in the group who were with another club felt they “jumped off a ship” they did not want to be crew members anymore while others felt they were “thrown overboard” or were told to “walk the gangplank”. 

When we gathered for that spontaneous meeting in March, we realized that our “core group” had such significant talent, experience, and knowledge in so many areas in addition to amateur radio that we could overcome many obstacles and that we were indeed also a dominating factor in the success of other clubs in the past.  Less than ten days later the “Hamilton Amateur Radio Club” (HAMARC) was born and had a callsign, and we were ready to receive more “shipmates”! 

As this small group sails ahead into an unknown future we’ll keep a lookout for anyone who might want to come aboard.  Whatever happens in the future we intend to have a “whale” of a time!

If you would like to join us in our adventures, you can start by filling out our membership form and emailing it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or bringing it to one of our monthly meetings.

The name........... Hamilton Amateur Radio Club............ was quite fitting because of the amateur radio related historical location of the group’s first meeting and the amateur radio history of Hamilton Ohio dating back to the very early 1900’s. 

Shown below is a 1912 photograph of the original “Hamilton Radio Club” taken on the front steps of the residence of Bob KD8RLA........ 100 years ago! The 1912 club was one of the first organized amateur radio clubs in the United States!